How to Plan for the New Girl Scout Year: New Troop Year Tips Podcast

 

How to Plan for the New Girl Scout Year: New Troop Year Tips Podcast 
with, Troop Leader Heidi Donofrio

Getting back into the swing of things for a new troop year can be overwhelming. We’re here to support you, Girl Scout volunteers, to help make the planning process easier!

In our New Troop Year Tips podcast episode, GSNC Brownie Troop Leader Heidi Donofrio joins staff member and podcast host, Cathy Ciccone, to share her best how-to tips, to ensure troop leaders are prepared for the start of a new Girl Scout year.

Here’s all of the valuable resources she shares (with links), so you don’t waste your time googling!

P.S. Be sure to read to the end to find out the most important lessons Heidi has learned to date as a troop leader.

Building a strong foundation within co-leaders and troop parents:

·        Maintain constant communication, using what works for you! This could be through text, email, an app like “Band,” or with virtual or in-person meetings to stay on the same page.

·        Utilize GSNC Council resources to get the latest information you need, and then share with your co-leaders and troop parents. For example, the Online Community (OLC), where you can chat with other GSNC leaders and staff, and find out about fun troop events and programs. 

·        Identify each persons’ role in the troop, based on their skills. If one of you enjoys organizing field trips and troop paperwork, lean into that role. If another person deems themselves to be the crafter, great! Figure out what role best suits you, and come to an agreement with one another on who is doing what.

·        Call on troop parents to help during troop meetings, but not ALL of them! Come to an agreement on how many parents you’ll ask to help. Keeping this number to a maximum of 1-3 parents per meeting will ensure girls are not distracted.

Planning Tools and Resources:

·        Have a planning meeting with girls, where they choose the badges and awards they want to earn. Use the award and badge explorer, where you can print out a pdf with a summary of each of the award requirements, with a colorful picture of them, so girls can visualize what they’ll be earning.

·        Take advantage of the Volunteer Toolkit (VTK), a customizable planning tool where you can find suggested meeting plans for most badges, access activity guides and badge requirements, track your Girl Scouts’ achievements, and much more. You’ll find the Volunteer Toolkit via the left menu bar of MyGS in My Account.

·        Rely on the support of your Girl Scout peers! Join community groups on Social Media platforms such a Facebook. Most communities have private Girl Scout groups you can join to find

·        Explore an AI system like Dall-E to help narrow down all of the ideas your Girl Scouts will have while you’re planning! Heidi used this to narrow down all of the ideas her troop had while making murals to earn the Brownie Painting Badge.

GSNC Council and Service Unit Resources:

·        Attend Virtual Office Hours, to chat with a GSNC staff member and ask any questions you have about troop management and planning, the Volunteer Toolkit, gsLearn, and the Girl Scout program.

·        Check out the Council training courses available to you, that with teach you a variety of skills in topics such as Camp, the Outdoors, Trips, Highest Awards and more!

·        Attend your Service Unit meetings know specific events your local community is offering, as well as the latest information from Council that will benefit you and your troop! This is also a wonderful way to meet other troop leaders and Girl Scouts near you. Not sure how to find out about these meetings? Contact customercare@gsnc.org.

Heidi’s parting wisdom, was sharing her the most important lessons she’s learned while being a troop leader.

1.      Ask for help! Find out what your troop parents do for a living, so that they can use their resources and skills to benefit your troop. You have a troop dad or mom that’s a scientist? Perfect! Ask them to help you facilitate a STEM badges.

2.      Taking on all of the responsibilities in a troop is overwhelming. You are not expected as a troop leader to take on all of it yourself. If you do, you will get burnt out, which will not only effect you, but your troop.

3.      It’s about quality, not quantity! Make sure your troop is genuinely enjoying what they’re taking part in, in your troop. They should be having fun while earning badges and awards, and looking forward to the trips they are going on. Check in with them periodically to make sure what you have planned is what they want to do.

Check out the Volunteer Connections podcast for more resources and advice, to help make your Girl Scout experience the best it can be! Questions? Reach out to customercare@gsnc.org.